Text of S.1290, Responsible Deficit Reduction Act of 1995, introduced in 1995 by Sen. John Kerry

Latest Major Action: 9/29/1995 Referred to Senate committee. Status: Read twice and referred to the Committee on Budge

Editor's note: NASA-relevant provisions highlighted in red

S 1290 IS

104th CONGRESS

1st Session

S. 1290

To reduce the deficit.

IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES

SEPTEMBER 29 (legislative day, SEPTEMBER 25), 1995

Mr. KERRY introduced the following bill; which was read twice and referred to the Committee on the Budget

A BILL

To reduce the deficit.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

This Act may be cited as the `Responsible Deficit Reduction Act of 1995'.

SEC. 2. LOCKBOX TO INSURE SAVINGS GO TO DEFICIT REDUCTION.

(a) IN GENERAL- Section 201(a) of House Concurrent Resolution 67 (104th Congress, 1st Session) is amended to read as follows:

`(a) DEFINITION- As used in this section and for the purposes of allocations made pursuant to section 302(a) or 602(a) of the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, for the discretionary category, the term `discretionary spending limit' means--

`(1) with respect to fiscal year 1996--

`(A) for the defense category $257,196,000,000 in new budget authority and $258,543,000,000 in outlays; and

`(B) for the nondefense category $216,058,000,000 in new budget authority and $265,610,000,000 in outlays;

`(2) with respect to fiscal year 1997--

`(A) for the defense category $261,252,000,000 in new budget authority and $261,884,000,000 in outlays; and

`(B) for the nondefense category $210,477,000,000 in new budget authority and $251,080,000,000 in outlays;

`(3) with respect to fiscal year 1998--

`(A) for the defense category $263,641,000,000 in new budget authority and $260,151,000,000 in outlays; and

`(B) for the nondefense category $216,400,000,000 in new budget authority and $243,690,000,000;

`(4) with respect to fiscal year 1999, for the discretionary category $465,602,000,000 in new budget authority and $495,637,000,000 in outlays; and

`(5) with respect to fiscal year 2000, for the discretionary category $466,545,000,000 in new budget authority and $492,740,000,000 in outlays;

as adjusted for changes in concepts and definitions and emergency appropriations.'.

(b) REVISED ALLOCATIONS- The chair of the Committee on the Budget of the Senate shall file with the Senate revised allocations, aggregates, and discretionary spending limits under section 201 of House Concurrent Resolution 67, as amended by this section, decreasing budget authority and decreasing outlays accordingly.

(a) IN GENERAL- The assumptions included in the conference report on House Concurrent Resolution 67 with respect to deficit reduction are amended to reflect the total reductions provided in section 2(b).

(b) DEFENSE DISCRETIONARY- The assumptions included in the conference report on House Concurrent Resolution 67 with respect to reductions in defense discretionary spending shall be assumed to include the following:

(1) Limit defense spending in fiscal year 1996 to $244,000,000,000, in fiscal year 1997 to $241,000,000,000, in fiscal year 1998 to $248,000,000,000, in fiscal year 1999 to $254,000,000,000, and in fiscal year 2000 to $261,000,000,000.

(3) Phase out over five years the equivalent of two Army light divisions.

(4) Deny unemployment compensation to service members who voluntarily leave the service.

(5) Close the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences, with the last class admitted in 1995 and all activities halted on that class' graduation in 1999.

(6) Rather than replacing or revitalizing existing Department of Defense Housing Stock, increase reliance on private-sector housing for military families by making service personnel eligible for a cash housing allowance regardless of whether they live in
Department of Defense or private-sector units and charging market-driven rent for Department of Defense housing.

(7) Reduce the Intelligence budget by $300 million in each of fiscal years 1996, 1997, 1998, 1999, and 2000.

(8) Encourage private ownership of industrial assets used in defense production by granting the General Services Administration clear authority to negotiate sale of equipment to the holding contractor in situations in which continued Department of Defense ownership is not necessary, and by requiring contractors in the future to rent or lease such equipment from the Department of Defense if they demonstrate it is in the Department of Defense's interest to provide the equipment.

(9) Increase burdensharing by the Republic of Korea by requiring it to increase its contribution to include all payments of Korean won-based labor costs of local employees working for the United States military and support services contracts.

(10) Procure the most cost-effective mix of C-17's and commercial airlifters.

(11) Cancel the Army's Tank Upgrade Program and lay-away production facilities, deactivating but preserving the Government-owned tank manufacturing facilities.

(14) Terminate all funding for the Selective Service System except to terminate the program.

(15) Limit the mission of the Ballistic Missile Defense Organization to Theater Missile Defense and Terminate its other projects.

(16) Terminate the National Aerospace Plane Program.

(17) Scale back weapons production and maintenance activities at the Department of Energy to support an arsenal of 4,000 warheads.

(c) NONDEFENSE DISCRETIONARY- The assumptions included in the conference report on House Concurrent Resolution 67 with respect to reductions in non-defense discretionary spending shall be assumed to include the following:

(1) Terminate NASA's support for producers of commercial airlines.

(2) Consolidate and downsize Overseas Broadcasting by capping funding to Radio Free Europe and Radio Liberty at the level of $75 million per year.

(8) Reduce electrification and telephone credit subsidies to rural utilities services to levels calculated to result in electricity and telephone consumer costs equivalent to those for consumers in the service areas of unsubsidized electric and telephone companies.

(9) Offer for sale the Naval Petroleum Reserve Number 1, located at Elk Hills, California.

(10) Prohibit the sale of timber from national forests at a price insufficient to recover fully the Forest Service's associated costs for timber management, reforestation, construction, and maintenance of logging roads, payments to States, and other timber program costs.

(11) Limit the level of Federal support for agricultural research and extension activities to 90 percent of the fiscal year 1995 level for fiscal years 1996 through 2000.

(12) Terminate the Interstate Commerce Commission and transfer its motor carrier safety responsibilities to the Department of Transportation.

(13) Terminate the U.S. Travel and Tourism Administration in 1997.

(14) Terminate the Pennsylvania Avenue Development Corporation.

(15) Align the method of computing cost-of-living adjustment of the compensation for members of Congress with compensation for civil servants.

(16) Limit the number of days Senior Executive Service employees may accrue as annual leave to 30.

(17) Permanently reduce the number of political appointees to 2,000.

SEC. 4. DIRECT SPENDING REDUCTIONS.

(a) SALES OF ELECTRIC POWER BY THE POWER MARKETING ADMINISTRATIONS- Notwithstanding any other law governing sales of electric power by the Alaska Power Marketing Administration, Bonneville Power Marketing Administration, Southern Power Marketing Administration, Southeastern Power Marketing Administration, or Western Area Power Marketing Administration (each of which is referred to in this subsection as the `Administration')--

(1) offers of sales of electric power by the Administration shall be made on a nonpreferential basis to public bodies and cooperatives and private persons;

(2) sales of electric power by the Administration shall be made to the persons offering the highest price for the power; and

(3) the Administration shall not be required to acquire for sale to any public body or cooperative or any other person any amount of electric power in excess of that generated by the projects from which the Administration sells power.

`(B) ADJUSTMENT FOR INFLATION- On and after the date of enactment of this subparagraph, the amount of the storage fees established under subparagraph (A) shall be adjusted annually on October 1 to account for inflation since the date of enactment of this Act.

`(C) DEADLINE FOR PAYMENT- The principal amount of all storage fees established under subparagraph (A) shall be paid by September 30, 1997, and all of the interest accrued or all storage fees shall be paid by September 30, 1998.'.

(B) by redesignating subsections (b) and (c) as subsections (a) and (b), respectively.

(4) CONFORMING AMENDMENT REGARDING SECTION 32 ACTIVITIES- The second sentence of the first paragraph of section 32 of the Act of August 24, 1935 (7 U.S.C. 612c) is amended by inserting `(other than sugar beets and sugarcane)' after `commodity' the last place it appears.

(5) PROHIBITION ON SUBSEQUENT PROVISION OF PRICE SUPPORT-

(A) PROHIBITION- After the effective date of this subsection, the Secretary of Agriculture may not make price support available, whether in the form of loans, payments, purchases, or other operations, for crops of sugar beets or sugarcane by using the funds of the Commodity Credit Corporation or under the authority of any law.

(B) EXCEPTION- Notwithstanding subparagraph (A), the Secretary shall settle any outstanding loans under section 206 of the Agricultural Act of 1949 (7 U.S.C. 1446g) made before the effective date of this subsection.

(6) EFFECT ON EXISTING LIABILITY- The amendments made by this subsection shall not affect the liability of any person under any provision of law as in effect before the effective date of this subsection.

(7) EFFECTIVE DATE- This subsection and the amendments made by this subsection shall become effective on October 1, 1996.